My new, favorite recipe for quality time with my youngest son:

• one partially-used canvas, long since abandoned by the child/painter
• scads of cheap, acrylic paint
• the words “There’s no wrong way to do this!”

My original plan was to work alongside him – he with his canvas and me with mine. But he had something different in mind (as children so often do), wondering out loud, “What fun is it to paint alone?”

At that point my saying, “There’s no wrong way” (for the perfectionist in him) took on the added meaning of “There’s no right way” (for the perfectionist in me). I lost count of the layers of paint, as he added to my contributions and encouraged me to add to his, to the point of suggesting we occasionally rotate the canvas, so neither of our “styles” were so obvious.

 

What began as my attempt at knocking out another “potential” project for this month, ended up being an early withdrawl on the inheritance I’m giving my children. What’s even more fun: I think we may have discovered a potential career for our son. He talked the entire time we painted, giving a play by play of what he was doing, why he was doing it, and how he felt about the results. Can you say “Bob Ross?”